Perfect for Halloween

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah E. Harkness, an American historian, has been described as "Twilight for grown ups", and that is quite an apt description, although I would also say that there are similarities to the Harry Potter series too. I am a fan of all of them, and I did really enjoy reading this book, although I hadn't realised that it is the first in a trilogy, and I now have to wait until next June for the next installment! The story starts off in Oxford, and there are wonderful descriptions of the Bodleian Library. It focuses around a reluctant witch who is studying alchemy, and is desperately trying to avoid using her magic. However, she retrieves a book from the stacks, which is desired by daemons, vampires, and witches, and there the adventure begins. She gains a mysterious vampire protector, and as her magic struggles to reveal itself, other creatures come out of the woodwork. The story bounces from Oxford to France, from where the mysterious vampire hails, to America, where Diana, the witch comes from and where her Aunt and partner live in a wonderful house which has a personality of its own. This is a great story, really well told, and nicely researched. I think it is more of a cross between Twilight and Labyrinth, taking the illicit romance between creatures from other worlds, and linking it with the history of old France. There is a lot to enjoy in this story, and while I am disappointed that I have to wait for the next book, I am also glad that the author didn't try to cram all the adventure into the one book.

Latest reads

I have been a bit slack with my reading and my blog lately, the main reason being that I am studying and working full-time and just ran out of time. I also have two other blogs, both work-related and I guess those have to take priority. Anyway, I have been reading. On my Kindle, I am reading Lord of the Rings. I promised my husband that if he read Twilight, I would read LOR. He honoured the agreement, and I am just getting round to honouring my part of the deal. I have to admit, I am enjoying it. However, my Kindle had a terminal crash, which was disappointing, but the fabulous support at Amazon Kindle, in particular Melanie, replaced it immediately. I am so impressed with the service provided by Amazon Kindle. No hassles, no issues, just a good, fair, and friendly, personal service. Anyway, my Kindle issue is all resolved now and I am back into reading LOR.

In the meantime, however, I have also been reading paperback books. The first was The Distant Hours by Kate Morton. I have read her other books (The Forgotten Garden and The House at Riverton) and really enjoyed them. I did enjoy this one too, but I have to admit that I did prefer the others. I am not sure why, but I felt the characters were stronger in the other two books and I cared about what happened to them. This one, I didn't become as attached. The story is very good and the twists and turns keep you guessing to the end, but it just feels a bit frustrating. Perhaps I was in the wrong mood.

The Sunday Times is currently offering Waterstones vouchers enabling you to choose from a different title every week and buy it for 99p. I bought Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon. I absolutely love the film, and I am delighted to say that it was pretty true to the book. The story focuses around a published author who has been writing his next best-seller for the past seven years, while spending most of that time stoned, teaching, and getting married or having affairs. It got a little bit lost in the middle, but it was actually really good to read. I have to admit the film version of Grady Tripp was far more tolerable than the book version, but Crabtree remains the same in both. At one point, I really didn't like Grady in the book, and I did wonder why I was reading the book, but I was determined to persevere, and as it came to the end when everything came together, I found that I had discovered a new and interesting author. I also enjoyed the way the author focused so much on the skill of writing. Anyway, I shall be checking out some of his other books in the future.

And, if you fancy something fresh and new, check out Padraig De Brún (my husband), who has launched his novel and his short stories via three blogs:

• A Good Man - his novel
• Songs, Poems, Stories - short stories based on folk songs
• Tumbledown Fairies - gorgeous, children's stories.

Enjoy :-)

Massive catch-up

I can't believe I have left it so long since my last post! I have been reading, but where to start!

Well, I started reading PG Wodehouse and greatly enjoyed The Inimitable Jeeves. Just brilliant. So entertaining, and full of mischief. The characters and the dialogue are really easy to read and very relaxing. It was a lovely holiday read.

I started reading Skipping Christmas by John Grisham and was so disappointed that I couldn't finish it. It was supposed to be funny, so maybe I just have a different sense of humour. Anyway, I got quite far, but it just seemed to get more miserable and just didn't have the spirit of Christmas.

While I was at my Mum's I picked up an old book that I used to read. Michelle Magorian has written many children's books, including Goodnight Mister Tom, one of my favourites. The book I read over Christmas was called Back Home, and it was about a young teenager, who five years previously had been sent to America as an evacuee during World War II. She comes back from a country without rations, with colour and promise, to a country that is still facing devastation, struggling with rations, with everyone and everything in dull, grey colours. She also finds that her mother has changed. She struggles to adapt, particularly as she has such a strong, American accent. It is a really brilliant insight into the adjustments, Rusty, her mother, and eventually her father, when he returns from the war, have to make. It is a story of bravery, friendship, and tolerance, and it is really good. It is also very believable and I highly recommend it. The descriptions of her life in New England compared to her life in Devon and then London were really interesting. The ending is just right.

As I enjoyed that one so much, I decided to read another one of her books and downloaded Just Henry onto my Kindle. It was fantastic. I could not put it down. Again, it was set during World War II, and again it was focused around the views of the child growing up at the time. The story covered difficult stories including illegitimacy, bigamy, physical child abuse, but emphasised that no matter what the sins of the father were, the children should be treated as people in their own right. All the children were given hope and were encouraged to follow their dreams. It was fantastic and inspirational, and also very interesting as it focused around historical cinematography and photography, so from that aspect alone, it was an amazing book. It was quite a hard book to read as some of the issues were quite traumatic, but it was so well done, and again, I just couldn't put it down. I will definitely look out for more books by Michelle Magorian.

So, that's it for now. I am reading something else, but I will save it for another blog.

Too early for Christmas?

I have two books to talk about today and both very different. Juliet, by Anne Fortier, is a re-telling of Romeo and Juliet, set in the original time and modern day, and not in Verona, but in Sienna.The two stories are linked, the old and the new, and there is a mystery to unfold and a curse to overturn. I particularly loved the historical side of this story, and the modern day bit was good, but perhaps a bit to clever. I can see it making a very successful blockbuster novel, in the style of Da Vinci Code, but personally I think if it had been less complicated, it would have made a better read. Happy to discuss though. It is ideal for a holiday read, and the historical data is really interesting and well told.

The second book is the first of two Christmas books I bought. Falling for Christmas is written by Debbie Macomber and contains two books. Both follow the Christmas theme, and they are very sentimental and romantic and have completely happy endings. There is nothing offensive, a bit of sadness, but all the loose ends get tied up in a magical, simple way. They also contain lovely recipes. I really like the sound of the fried chicken, but I don't know if I have the patience to make it.....it takes hours! Anyway, these are lovely, feel-good stories, and they really get you in the mood for Christmas. And, yes, apologies, for starting so early. I just couldn't resist them. And, what's worse, is the next book I am about to read is also about Christmas. Sorry :-) Please note: the link for this book links to a book of the same title, and the first story is the same as the one I read, but the second story (according to the details on Waterstones) is different. I bought mine from the bookshop, so I am not sure what is going on. The second story in my book was about a toyshop, a little boy who wanted a robot, and an angel.

Electronic versus print

I finished two books this week. Northanger Abbey on my Kindle and Noah's Compass in print format. The method of reading didn't make a difference, I don't think, but I did enjoy Northanger Abbey more. I loved the characters and the way Catherine Morland was so heavily influenced by novels. This is the first Jane Austen that I have read without watching the film version and I think that makes a difference, because I was able to imagine the characters myself. I really liked the relationship between Mr Tilney and Miss Morland and especially her time at the Abbey. I will definitely try some other Jane Austen now. Now, Noah's Compass...I usually really love Anne Tyler's books, but this one was only okay, just because it was so similar to one of her earlier books, The Accidental Tourist, which I really enjoyed. I did like this book, but there wasn't anything unique about it. It was an easy, relaxing read though, so if you are a fan of her books, then this is still very readable.

Stargazers

I have just finished a book by Rachel Hore, called A Place of Secrets. I have read all of her books and enjoyed them all. They follow a similar theme, set in a beautiful location, complicated relationships, building on a historical story, fitting the pieces of a puzzle together. This one takes the same pattern but with a different subject area, so with each book, because they are so well-researched, you always feel as though you are learning something. The subject for this book was astronomy and it was fascinating. It was a really brilliant story about an auctioneer being asked to visit a country home in Norfolk to value a collection of books about astronomy. She finds a journal describing the findings of a previous owner of the house and uncovers a mystery, enhanced by the strange dreams that her niece was having. My only criticism is that it was a very complex story, and was perhaps unravelled a little too quickly. I think the author could have spent some more time just unpacking some of the relationships and the mystery itself. I could quite happily have continued reading this story. It was beautifully and cleverly told and the characters were all so real. I enjoyed the ending very much as it was well-put-together.

The Swan Thieves

The Swan Thieves is Elizabeth Kostova's new book, and it was given to me as a leaving present. I was very impressed that my friend chose so well for me. It was a beautiful story, covering art, history, romance, mystery, mental illness, so much. And the characters, so believable. The love stories were deliciously intense. I learnt so much about art and the Impressionist artists and now want to go to France to learn more, to explore Paris from another point of view and to discover some of the other areas that the author describes. The description of techniques and colour were really interesting, making me long to have artistic talents...I have none, unfortunately. I really enjoyed reading this tale, and it has made me a week behind in my PhD reading, but it was really worth it. I couldn't put it down. The author has such a talent for educating and entertaining. I love the story and I was delighted that although it was a piece of fiction, it was based on fact, in particular a picture by Alfred Sisley - Snow at Louveciennes - it was good to see this picture after reading about it (and it was quite different to how I had imagined it. I learnt this from the Amazon customer discussion lists. Very interesting.

Something new...

Having read some older books, rather than from modern authors, I thought I would continue on this theme. So, I bought Cranford: and Other Stories by Elizabeth Gaskell. I don't have a television, so I hadn't seen the series on the BBC. I loved the book; the characters were so believable and enjoyable, and it was quite unusual to have the females as the dominant characters. I read the omnibus edition, which includes the stories 'The Lady Ludlow', 'Mr Harrison's Confessions' and 'The Cage at Cranford'. The stories and the characters were so delightful, and the historical element was really interesting. A lovely Winter's read, which was followed by a book from one of my usual genres. Elinor Lipman's The Family Man follows her usual style of complicated family setups with strong characters, some of which from Jewish backgrounds. This book tells the story of Henry Archer, a gay man, who used to be married, and who meets the daughter he adopted and lost about 25 years ago. This was a complicated, but easy to read story, which had me giggling in my seat. I really like the way Elinor Lipman writes. She covers some sensitive topics, but with a perfect amount of humour. Really enjoyable!

New year, new posts!

I have just finished The Dream House by Rachel Hore. Like her other books, there was a lot of flashbacks, this time to the 1920s/30s. It was a good story, but my favourite bits were the historical ones. I became irritated with the modern day setting, because of the casualness of the relationships and the lack of respect. It was probably more evident, because they had such high standards in the past. Anyway, it was entertaining, although I do prefer her other books, such as The Memory Garden and the Glass Painters Daughter. In this book, I felt she ended up with the wrong man. Let me know what you think.

Witch trials!

Seemingly appropriate for Halloween, but this was no treat for those involved. I have just finished reading Kathleen Kent's The Heretic's Daughter. I was in two minds when I bought it, because there have been so many stories about the Salem witch. However, this one has been written by a direct descendent of one of the accused. It was brilliantly written; so hard to read in places, because of the treatment of the accused women and men. The bravery of the children - their horrific treatment was so vividly described, I felt in awe of their survival skills. They never gave up, they plead their innocence. You just cannot fathom how human beings can treat each other so cruelly. It was a harsh, but excellent read, and has inspired me to find out more about this tragic event.

Historical novels

I have just finished The Memory Garden, by Rachel Hore. It was enjoyable, because it flashed back to the story of an artist in Cornwall in the early 1900s. I became a little frustrated by the main character who seemed so dependent on the male characters. She could have been such a strong character on her own, but I suppose there would not have been the drama. I would have loved to have known how the house and garden would turn out. It was beautifully described and makes me envious of anyone living in Cornwall. So, it has been well-written, and it was easy to read. It is now 9.25pm and the bookshops are closed! What shall I read now?

Vintage style

I have just read A Vintage Affair by Isabel Wolff, and it was just a perfectly lovely read. My only bugbear is the misleading quotes on the back of the book. From the Express, 'A warm, witty, romantic comedy. Perfect!' Now I suspect this is the fault of the publisher, Harper Collins, who may have used a quote from another of Isabel Wolff's books. This book was not a romantic comedy. It was very touching, and quite sad in places about a woman who has suffered great pain and re-starts her life by opening a vintage dress shop. The book is about the people she meets through her shop, and the magical effect her vintage clothes have on their lives. One of the people she meets has been harbouring a tragic secret since the second world war, and the story, although sad, is beautifully and movingly told. The descriptions of the clothes will make this story of interest to anyone interested in fashion. The history brings life to the characters, and the complicated relationships, add more drama and reality to the story. I really enjoyed it, although it wasn't what I was expecting, having read the reviews on the back cover.

Different styles and new authors

The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff was my risk book, the third choice in my three for two purchase. It was really quirky, and entertaining, revolving around a young archaeologist, returning home following a disastrous affair. However, once home, her mother drops a bombshell, and she spends her time discovering the mystery and working out the issues in her life. I really enjoyed this book.

I reverted back to childhood again after reading this book and read Little Grey Rabbit's Second Storybook, which was just lovely; gorgeous pictures by Margaret Tempest, and magical stories by Alison Uttley. Unfortunately, no longer in print, but I managed to get a copy from eBay.

Then, I read another Elizabeth Edmondson book, The Art of Love. This was similar in style to The Villa in Italy, but set in a different country, focusing on a girl about to embark on a marriage that she isn't quite ready for. Again, this book is about a girl who discovers that she isn't who she thought she was and has to find some answers. This was also a really good story, with beautiful descriptions, and interesting characters. I am now reading another book by the same author, although older, so I will let you know what I think in my next blog.

Author websites

Many authors are setting up their own websites now, to support their publications. They often have guidance for authors, book clubs, and additional resources, such as recipes, and information about the history of where the stories are set. These are some of my favourite websites:

• Fannie Flagg
• Kate Mosse - Labyrinth
• Kate Mosse
• JK Rowling
• Adriana Trigiani

I am sure there are many other great author websites. Please let me know of any.

Potter replacement

Well, having finished all the Harry Potter stories, I decided to try the Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman. I didn't really like The Northern Lights. It was so dark and I really didn't like Mrs Coulter, so much so that I didn't see the film. However, I thought there must be something to it, and I was curious to see what would happen to the characters. So, I went to buy the Subtle Knife and the lady in the shop said that I really should buy the Amber Spyglass because once I had finished the Subtle Knife I would just want to carry on. And, she was so right! I did, and it was superb. So after that, I needed another replacement, so I decided to try Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones, about two children who have been orphaned. One of them is a witch, but rather arrogant and spoilt. I haven't finished this one yet, but I am three-quarters of the way through and I am really enjoying it. One book I have just finished, which was fantastic, was The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. It is so wonderfully written, and completely unexpected. It is narrated by death and tells the story of a girl living in Germany during the Second World War. It is entertaining, but also incredibly moving. Not sure what I will read next. Recommendations gratefully received!